The first week of the war against Iran has cost the United States more than $11.3 billion, according to a Pentagon briefing to Congress members.
President Donald Trump is considering asking Arab countries for funding assistance for the war he initiated with Israel against Iran, his spokesperson said on Monday, March 30, without providing specifics.
“This is something the president would be interested in doing. I won’t get ahead of him, but I know it’s an idea he has and a subject he will certainly discuss further,” predicted Karoline Leavitt during a press conference.
She was responding to a journalist who had just asked her “who is paying for the cost of this war” and whether Arab countries would contribute.
The first week of the war against Iran has already exceeded $11.3 billion in costs, as reported by the New York Times in mid-March. According to the newspaper, this figure excludes many costs related to the preparation of the strikes, indicating that the final amount could be much higher.
Pentagon officials had previously informed Congress that around $5.6 billion had been spent on ammunition during the first two days of the conflict, a significantly higher amount than previous estimates, according to American media. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an independent think tank based in Washington, estimated the first 100 hours of the operation at $3.7 billion, averaging over $891 million per day. A portion of these costs is already budgeted, but the majority ($3.5 billion) is not, as highlighted by the CSIS in its study published on March 5.
As of mid-March, Iran had indicated its readiness for a long war to compel Washington to retreat by targeting Western interests. Ali Fadavi, a representative of this ideological army, had raised the prospect of a “war of attrition” aimed at “destroying the entire American economy as well as the global economy”.
